Across India, state transport authorities are inviting banks, Fintech companies, card networks, and payment service providers to return their traditional ticketing systems without contact solutions.
The move is focused on aligning with the latest social distancing and hygiene norms in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Rajasthan transport bodies have issued tenders for contract, calling for tenders from banks and digital service providers to help scale their technology requirements to offer contactless ticketing and payment solutions in bus fleets. Separately, road transport authorities in Maharashtra, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh are in advance stages of finalizing such projects, working with leading payment networks and banks to enlarge electronic ticketing that involves non-contact services, two sources directly aware of the matter.
According to the Request for Proposal (RFP) documents, the sources said that other state authorities including Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, are also in early discussions to adopt such services, making use of QR and Near Field Communication technologies. The aim to create an “open-loop” ticketing and payment platform to render contact-free ticketing systems made necessary due to the COVID-19 pandemic making use of the latest technologies. Various states have different demands, but the wider objective is to digitize operations and control the data for optimizing operations. For example, Uttar Pradesh’s UPSRTC wants to implement an “IoT- based integrated bus ticketing service” whereas the Rajasthan transport authority, RSRTC, intends to operate “Digital Fare Collection using NCMC Cards”. According to the documents, Gujarat is targeting to create an “open-loop ticketing system and GPS on the “Build Own Operate and Transfer” (BOOT) model.
Vineet Toshniwal, the CEO of City cash, a payment company participating in the electronic ticketing and payment project with Maharashtra’s MSRTC stated industry associations involving banks, merchant networks, and device manufactures are now combining to present offers for undertaking such transit projects as the opportunities are extensive, especially for new age players. Toshniwal mentioned that the involvement of startups brings novelty and innovation to such projects. They have issued over 4 million cards to date for MSRTC commuters and are ascending the model. For the next project, they will bring the functionality of multiple acceptance modes such as QR and credit, debit card payments, along with geotagging to their devices.
